The Law of Love: The Christian Commonwealth Colony, a Utopian Experiment

Abstract

The Christian Commonwealth Colony existed as a utopian experiment from 1896 to 1900. The group of Christian socialists sought to live by the tenets of Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. Members gave up their possessions and entered into a communal style of living. The CCC, extant during the Social Gospel movement, exemplifies an alternative to that movement’s missionary societies and inner city preaching. Instead of working to alleviate hunger and want, the men and women of the Christian Commonwealth Colony sought by their efforts to create a model of godly society, an example for the rest of the world to follow. This thesis examines the CCC as both an intentional community and a reaction to the Social Gospel movement.